Keaton Jennings celebrates his second international century

Opener Keaton Jennings ended his two-year wait for a second test century with a career-best 146 not out as England inched towards a comprehensive victory in the opening test against Sri Lanka on Thursday.

Having taken a handy 139-run first-innings lead, England declared their second innings on 322 for six to set Sri Lanka an improbable 462-run victory target.

The hosts ended day three on 15 for no loss, 447 behind and staring at a crushing defeat inside four days in spinner Rangana Herath’s farewell test.

Openers Dimuth Karunaratne (seven) and Kaushal Silva (eight) survived seven overs but Sri Lanka will need a near miracle to save the test.

Earlier, the tourists resumed on 38-0 and their openers consolidated their position until they suffered a mini-collapse.

Debutant Rory Burns’s (23) foolhardy pursuit of a non-existent single culminated in his run-out and Moeen Ali could not justify his promotion to number three for the second time in the match, following up his first-innings golden duck with three.

England captain Joe Root (three) also had a deja vu moment when Herath dismissed him for the second time in the match.

Jennings, however, looked confident against the spinners, often playing the sweep shot — both traditional and reverse — to negate them.

Ben Stokes, Jennings’ partner in their 107-run fourth-wicket partnership, shrugged off his early tentativeness to clobber three sixes in his 62 before Dilruwan Perara spun one past his bat to hit the top of the off-stump with a beautiful delivery.

Jennings, who hit a hundred in his debut test against India in 2016, took a single off Dhananjaya de Silva to end his century drought.

The 26-year-old pumped air while running before taking his helmet off and raising his bat in celebration.

The left-hander’s patient 280-ball knock included nine fours as he demonstrated to his team mates how to play spin in the sub-continent.

Jos Buttler made 35 and England’s first-innings hero Ben Foakes contributed 37 before Root decided to give his bowler a go at the Sri Lankan openers in fading light.

Herath claimed three wickets in his 93rd and final test at the same venue where the 40-year-old left-arm spinner made his debut against Australia in 1999.

England  1st innings
 Rory Burns       c Niroshan Dickwella b Suranga Lakmal              9
 Keaton Jennings  b Dilruwan Perera                                 46
 Moeen Ali        b Suranga Lakmal                                   0
 Joe Root         b Rangana Herath                                  35
 Ben Stokes       b Dilruwan Perera                                  7
 Jos Buttler      c Niroshan Dickwella b Dilruwan Perera            38
 Ben Foakes       c Dhananjaya de Silva b Suranga Lakmal           107
 Sam Curran       c Dinesh Chandimal b Akila Dananjaya              48
 Adil Rashid      c Dhananjaya de Silva b Dilruwan Perera           35
 Jack Leach       c Dhananjaya de Silva b Dilruwan Perera           15
 James Anderson   Not Out                                            0
 Extras           1b 1lb 0nb 0pen 0w                                 2
 Total            (97.0 overs)                             342 all out
Fall of Wickets : 1-10 Burns, 2-10 Ali, 3-72 Root, 4-98 Jennings, 5-103 Stokes, 6-164 Buttler, 7-252 Curran, 8-306 Rashid, 9-330 Leach, 10-342 Foakes

 Bowling              Ov  Md  Rn  Wk  Econ  Ex
 Suranga Lakmal       18   5  73   3  4.06
 Dilruwan Perera      31   6  75   5  2.42
 Akila Dananjaya      20   2  96   1  4.80
 Rangana Herath       25   4  78   1  3.12
 Dhananjaya de Silva   3   0  18   0  6.00

 Sri Lanka  1st innings
 Dimuth Karunaratne   c Ben Foakes b James Anderson             4
 Kaushal Silva        lbw Sam Curran                            1
 Dhananjaya de Silva  b Moeen Ali                              14
 Kusal Mendis         c Ben Stokes b Jack Leach                19
 Angelo Mathews       c Keaton Jennings b Moeen Ali            52
 Dinesh Chandimal     st Ben Foakes b Adil Rashid              33
 Niroshan Dickwella   c Jos Buttler b Moeen Ali                28
 Dilruwan Perera      c Jos Buttler b Jack Leach               21
 Akila Dananjaya      c Ben Foakes b Moeen Ali                  0
 Suranga Lakmal       c James Anderson b Adil Rashid           15
 Rangana Herath       Not Out                                  14
 Extras               0b 2lb 0nb 0pen 0w                        2
 Total                (68.0 overs)                    203 all out
Fall of Wickets : 1-4 Karunaratne, 2-10 Silva, 3-34 Mendis, 4-40 de Silva, 5-115 Chandimal, 6-136 Mathews, 7-171 Dickwella, 8-173 Perera, 9-175 Perera, 10-203 Lakmal

 Bowling         Ov  Md  Rn  Wk  Econ  Ex
 James Anderson  10   0  26   1  2.60
 Sam Curran       6   1  16   1  2.67
 Jack Leach      18   2  41   2  2.28
 Moeen Ali       21   4  66   4  3.14
 Adil Rashid      9   1  30   2  3.33
 Ben Stokes       4   0  22   0  5.50

 England  2nd innings
 Rory Burns       Run Out Dimuth Karunaratne                   23
 Keaton Jennings  Not Out                                     146
 Moeen Ali        c Rangana Herath b Dilruwan Perera            3
 Joe Root         c Niroshan Dickwella b Rangana Herath         3
 Ben Stokes       b Dilruwan Perera                            62
 Jos Buttler      c Kaushal Silva b Rangana Herath             35
 Ben Foakes       c Kusal Mendis b Akila Dananjaya             37
 Extras           4b 7lb 2nb 0pen 0w                           13
 Total            (93.0 overs)                           322 decl
Fall of Wickets : 1-60 Burns, 2-67 Ali, 3-74 Root, 4-181 Stokes, 5-258 Buttler, 6-319 Foakes
Did Not Bat : Curran, Rashid, Leach, Anderson

Bowling                Ov  Md  Rn  Wk  Econ  Ex
 Dilruwan Perera        30   3  94   2  3.13
 Suranga Lakmal          9   2  30   0  3.33  2nb
 Rangana Herath         23   1  59   2  2.57
 Akila Dananjaya      18.5   2  87   1  4.62
 Dhananjaya de Silva  12.1   2  41   0  3.37

 Sri Lanka  2nd innings
 Dimuth Karunaratne  Not Out                7
 Kaushal Silva       Not Out                8
 Extras              0b 0lb 0nb 0pen 0w     0
 Total               (7.0 overs)         15-0

 Bowling         Ov  Md  Rn  Wk  Econ  Ex
 Sam Curran       1   1   0   0  0.00
 James Anderson   1   0   4   0  4.00
 Moeen Ali        2   0   7   0  3.50
 Adil Rashid      2   0   2   0  1.00
 Jack Leach       1   0   2   0  2.00